Ain't Nothin' But Dollar General: Reputation Management in an Environmental Justice Community

• In Event: Environmental Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 13: Environmental Inequality & Toxic Exposure

Abstract

Literature on environmental racism discusses how communities are dumped on because of their stigmatization. Less has been written on how actors in these environmentally dumped on, marginalized places serve as middlemen to both global and regional economies as they navigate the economic constraints brought about by their stigmatization. To understand this dynamic, I conduct an ethnographic project in the bankrupt, predominantly Black town of Chester, Pennsylvania. I find that these middlemen use civic pride, which they denote as “Chester Pride” or “C-Pride” as a form of reputation management. C-Pride is strongest in connection to the local high school and its sports team, however, it is also present in a myriad of areas, from local art to the town’s history to local activism. Through these assets, middlemen feature the town’s resilience and cultural authenticity. These features, along with the town’s location on the Delaware River Waterfront, showcase Chester as a site of potential external investment. These findings are important in understanding both the development and exploitation of racially marginalized communities and local level dynamics nested within the global struggle with climate change.

Author

• Major Eason, Harvard University